Book contents
- Wilhelm von Humboldt and Early American Linguistics
- Wilhelm von Humboldt and Early American Linguistics
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Maps
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Wilhelm von Humboldt and the Americas
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Research on Wilhelm von Humboldt and His Brother Alexander as Americanist Linguists
- Part II The Early Lives of Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt
- Part III Wilhelm von Humboldt’s Americanist Linguistics
- Part IV Wilhelm von Humboldt’s Impact on Americanist Linguistics and Anthropology
- Part V Wilhelm von Humboldt as an Americanist Linguist and Anthropologist
- Book part
- References
- Index
1 - Introduction
The Elder Humboldt as an Americanist Linguist and Anthropologist
from Part I - Wilhelm von Humboldt and the Americas
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 January 2024
- Wilhelm von Humboldt and Early American Linguistics
- Wilhelm von Humboldt and Early American Linguistics
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Maps
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Wilhelm von Humboldt and the Americas
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Research on Wilhelm von Humboldt and His Brother Alexander as Americanist Linguists
- Part II The Early Lives of Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt
- Part III Wilhelm von Humboldt’s Americanist Linguistics
- Part IV Wilhelm von Humboldt’s Impact on Americanist Linguistics and Anthropology
- Part V Wilhelm von Humboldt as an Americanist Linguist and Anthropologist
- Book part
- References
- Index
Summary
While regularly recognized as a statesman, an educational reformer, the founder of the University of Berlin, and a scholar in political science, philosophy, and literature, Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) has not always received as much acknowledgment for his contributions in anthropology or linguistics. When he is paid homage as a student of languages, it is for his role as a philosopher of language rather than as a philologist or linguist. When on other occasions Western academia has remembered Humboldt as a distinct linguist, he has appeared as a scholar of almost all languages except those of Africa or the Americas – and yet it is the very languages of the Western Hemisphere to which Humboldt paid his longest and most intensive attention, as evident by a set of recent publications in German. Chapter 1 offers an introductory discussion for an anglophone audience interested in Humboldt’s contributions to Americanist linguistics.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Wilhelm von Humboldt and Early American LinguisticsResources and Inspirations, pp. 3 - 25Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024